WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have been waiting a long time for their chance to exact revenge after their worst loss of the season.<\/p>\n
After the Stampeders stomped them 37-16 two weeks ago in Calgary, the Bombers have had to stew over the lopsided defeat through their bye week. They will finally get the opportunity for vengeance Friday night.<\/p>\n
Catch the game with coverage beginning at 8pm et\/5pm pt on TSN1\/3 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a long time to think about our mistakes and what we want to do differently,\u201d said Bombers defensive back Evan Holm. \u201cIt was nice to get away from football, but we got to watch a lot of film and see what they wanted to do and have answers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winnipeg rush end Willie Jefferson relished the idea of playing the Stampeders again so soon after being dominated last time out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a loss, you always say, \u2018I want to play them again,\u2019 and we have the opportunity to play them the next game,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were at home, they had their crowd into it. They had a nice environment. Now, they get to come to Winnipeg, to Princess Auto Stadium in front of 30,000-plus and play us. We play really (well) in front of our fans, so we need to get that swing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bombers have had two weeks to study film of both that loss and Calgary\u2019s victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders last weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re playing really great football right now,\u201d said Winnipeg offensive lineman Pat Neufeld. \u201cThey\u2019re playing really confident football. We\u2019re going to have our hands full, but we\u2019re always up for a challenge, especially at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
That challenge will be even tougher as the Bombers will be missing star receiver Dalton Schoen, who was placed on the six-game injury list, and perennial all-star offensive lineman Stanley Bryant. They will be replaced by speedy Kody Case at receiver and Micah Vanterpool on the O-line.<\/p>\n
They will also be up against what is currently the best defence in the CFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great challenge for us,\u201d said Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros. \u201cThey\u2019ve played exceptionally well the entire season. They\u2019ve given up five touchdowns throughout the entire year. Their scheme is sound. They play it very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea concurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like they\u2019re flying around,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re bringing a lot of energy, they\u2019re taking the ball away. Obviously, they took the ball away from us (two interceptions returned for touchdowns). When you see them put it all together as a 12-man unit, they seem to be getting after it pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Calgary head coach\/GM Dave Dickenson seemed a little surprised that his defence has improved so quickly from last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different group,\u201d he said. \u201cI actually thought it might take some time to jell. There was a little bit of the element of surprise because we knew what we were going to run and what kind of type of defence, and that certainly helped us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe turnovers are the biggest thing as far as helping our offence. I think we\u2019ve had three pick-sixes and when you get the ball and score with it, that\u2019s pretty nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calgary quarterback Vernon Adams, Jr., is expecting a battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, they\u2019re hungry,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re coming off a bye, a sold-out crowd. This is their home stadium \u2026 Winnipeg\u2019s going to come out with their best shot. It\u2019s going to be loud. It\u2019s going to be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
CALGARY STAMPEDERS (4-1) at WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (3-1) at Princess Auto Stadium, Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
HOMETOWN ADVANTAGE<\/p>\n
Winnipeg is 39-6 at home since 2019 \u2026 The Bombers are 12-0 coming off a bye week.<\/p>\n
ROAD WARRIORS\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Stampeders have won three straight road games, all by at least 10 points.<\/p>\n
WELCOME BACK MILT<\/p>\n
Bombers legend Milt Stegall will return to the TSN panel Friday night after taking time off following the sudden death of his son, Chase.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no words to even talk about what happened to him and his family and obviously, as Bombers, we put our hearts out to him,\u201d Neufeld said. \u201cIt takes a lot of courage to come back to work and get in front of a lot of people on TV and this crowd. Everyone here loves him, and we can\u2019t wait to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have been waiting a long time for their chance to exact revenge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-5321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}